back to the blog.

My apologies to my faithful readers for my blog hiatus; all I can say is that I’ve been so busy with my duties as a tour guide that I haven’t had the time to write about them.  My days are spent researching, studying, writing scripts, practicing tour routes, coffee talk sessions with tour guide friends about tour ideas, on the streets guiding tours, sometimes eating, & finally sleeping.  I’m exhausted, but I’ve been having a blast & I’m ridiculously excited about new tour prospects coming ‘round the bend!!

So, where to begin is the question?  For those of you that know me personally, you know I’m an infamous list maker & I do appreciate a good bullet-pointed list.  So, to catch you up without writing an epic length blog, here’s a list of all the fun nola stuff that my tour guide license has gotten me into over the past month or so & has kept me from staying up into the wee hours to post blogs (of course, I’ll have to refer to my calendar to make sure that I don’t forget anything)…

• Louisiana Bicentennial Lecture at Nunez Community College; learned a hell of a lot about the arduous process of making Louisiana an official state of the U.S.
• watched the Ken Burns Jazz Documentary (in preparation for Tauck’s Jazz Experience tours)
• FOC’s Hidden Treasures in LSM’s storage facility (the old “pasta factory” above Irene’s): special showing of paintings form LSM’s collection not on display in any of the museums
• Jazz Presentation by a fellow FOC tour guide & FOC’s music guru, Dave Thomas…learned a lot about jazz rhythms & beats, plus the birth of jazz in my hometown
• a fantastic French Quarter tour for FOC…I had a great couple from Australia that I’ve kept up with via facebook since the day they took my tour, a few Canadians, & even a couple of Americans.  We stopped in at my fellow tour guide’s apartment on Chartres & Dumaine to take a peek at his charming courtyard, talked a lot about hurricane Katrina & nola food.  Even though I ran over the 2 hours, all of my guests were real troopers & stuck it out with me until the very end!
• then the serious prep for Tauck’s Jazz Experience tours started…emails flying from one tour guide to the other with research about jazz musicians, old nola neighborhoods, such as Storyville & the Treme, walking the tour routes on the streets with other tour guides, sitting down & working out scripts for all three different tours (“Roots of Jazz”, “Jazz in the French Quarter”, & “Treme: Jazz & a Story of Survival Today”)…that was exhausting…especially since it was all volunteer work, “what the hell was I thinking when I signed up for these damn tours?!” is all that I kept asking myself in the weeks preceding the big event.
• my very first Saints game at the Superdome EVER!!  A tour guide friend has season tickets & told me before the season even started that I was going to have to join her for a home game.  She’s determined to convert me into a footfall fan.  I wore the only pseudo-Saints clothing I have, a black tank top with, “504 ever” in gold (504 is the nola area code); the shirt’s from Dirty Coast.  I have to admit, I had a great time, the energy was contagious & I actually learned a good bit about football (not that I can remember any of it just a few weeks later).  And, the Saint’s won, I’m pretty sure I was their good luck charm.  So, WHO DAT!  Geaux Saints!!
• watched Faubourg Treme: the Untold Story of Black New Orleans documentary (also in preparation for Tauck’s Jazz event tours), a really well done local film, I recommend checking it out
• watched “Jazz Funerals” documentary at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in the French Quarter; it was a fun collection of old second line & jazz funeral footage
• visited the 18^th Star exhibit at The Historic New Orleans Collection; there’s some interesting items to celebrate LA state’s bicentennial…an old Blue Book (the essential guide to all that was offered in Storyville), a letter from Jelly Roll Morton to a Supreme Court judge complaining about not getting royalties for his songs & much more.  The exhibit is FREE & open to the public during regular HNOC hours, so no excuse not to check it out!!
• sadly, I missed the first Freret Market of the season, too busy preparing for tours &/or catching up on sleep.  But, you bet your ass I'll be there this Saturday for the November Freret Market (it's held the 1st Saturday of each month from 12-5pm)
• Art for Art’s Sake with a few friends down Magazine St.; although I started late, I still managed to pop into a few galleries, Octavia Art had a great show & we found a terrific & affordable antique/vintage shop called, Medium Rare (my new favorite place to purchase gifts).  Of course, I also had to get a ridiculously fabulous hat covered in feathers for myself...AND, an old K&B hurricane tracking chart (that's going in a frame for sure)!!
• sadly, I also missed St. Augustine Church’s 170^th Anniversary mass in the Treme with Trombone Shorty among other great nola musicians (this is the oldest African American Catholic parish in the country).  I hear that it was an amazing celebration.
• Jazz People photo exhibit at Tulane’s Newcomb Art Gallery; all black & white photos, mostly taken in the 1950’s, from Tulane’s Hogan Jazz Archives, these photos are usually never on display, so it was a special treat.
• finally, the big event, Tauck’s Jazz Experience tours…3 days, 3 tours, some good food, some great music, a lot of nice (mostly older) folks visiting nola, & complete exhaustion!!  After the last tour on the last day, I got a very dirty martini at the Sazerac, in the Roosevelt Hotel with FOC’s Special Events Coordinator & another FOC tour guide.  Boy did I earn that cocktail & it tasted goooood! 
• the very next day after the last Tauck jazz tour, I headed to Poche Plantation with some of my fellow tour guide gals for an afternoon tea party…all decked out in our most fabulous hats.  It was a hoot, there was a hat competition, of course, & a fashion show of all late 19^th century garb, bubbly, & even a comedian.
• FOC’s October monthly tour guide meeting…all were still recovering from Tauck’s Jazz Experience tours & now they needed guides to sign up for the Ghostly Galavant on Halloween weekend.  I had to take a break, of course, I’d enjoy the Ghostly Galavant festivities, but couldn’t commit to guiding a tour or dressing up as a famous nola ghost…that was just too much for me to handle.
• my first visit to the cemeteries at the end of Canal St…Dispersed of Judah, St. Patrick’s #2 & Oddfellows Rest (just 3 of many more in that neighborhood).  Plus, the Hurricane Katrina Memorial in the old Charity Hospital Cemetery.  I was helping a friend prepare for a new tour of these cemeteries, learned a lot & it paid off this past week…
• a driving tour of nola for a friend’s boyfriend during is 1st nola visit…along Bayou St. John, out to the lakefront, through city park, down Esplanade Ave., around the Treme & into the Marginy on an absolutely beautiful day.
• attended a monthly “tour guide discussion group” meeting at Latter Library, a great old mansion on St. Charles Ave & my lovely neighborhood public library.  The topic was culinary nola, learned about some current culinary French Quarter tours & some interesting facts about chickory & beignets. 
• a practice run in front of a camera for my little NOTV spot on the Cabildo to be filmed tomorrow afternoon!  That was surreal, watching the footage back of myself.  And, I know that I talk with my hands, but seriously, I’m like a storm whipping through a conversation.  A little nervous about tomorrow’s shoot, so cross your fingers for me…and what the hell am I gonna wear?!
• MY FIRST PAID TOUR!!!!!  As I mentioned earlier, helping my friend prep for her tour of those cemeteries at the end of Canal St. paid off, I meant it both literally & metaphorically!  She wasn’t available to do that tour last Friday, so she referred the owner of the small tour company, Tour-New-Orleans, to me & the rest is history.  I had a group of 20, all from a wedding party (I was surprised they were going for a cemetery tour, but they seemed to really enjoy it).  I got a great tip, which I wasn’t even expecting.  So, I guess I’m a pro now?!
• after my cemeteries tour on Friday morning, I had to run back home to finish up my costume for FOC’s Ghostly Galavant.  So, my dining room table became arts & crafts central for the weekend.  I made a mini cabildo cupola & attached it to a vintage hat (early 20^th century style).  Earlier in the week, I’d taken a trip to Buffalo Exchange in search of a “gown” that looked like it was from the early 20^th century.  I asked one of the employees & she brought me over to a bin of brand new arrivals, the leftovers from Tulane’s drama department!!  I struck gold, found the perfect dress for just $30!!  The girl helping me had studied costume design in college, so she was just as thrilled as I was, we called it a Halloween Miracle!  Anyway, the Cabildo became part of the Louisiana State Museum in 1911.  So, my costume is in honor of the 100^th anniversary.  I even made a sash (sorta like Miss America) that says “100 YEARS”. 
• FOC’s Ghostly Galavant started off with a big party at the Cabildo on Friday night, so my costume was ready just in time for the party.  I took the streetcar over & got some great reactions from the crowd, not that anyone knew what the hell I was or had ever heard of the Cabildo.  So I did do a little tour guide lecture & educated some of the random riders on the streetcar while headed down to the quarter.  Needless to say, my costume was a big hit, once I got to the event, the partygoers certainly recognized the Cabildo’s cupola immediately (as they should)!  There was food & drink, music, & we were free to wonder the museum…a great space for a party. 
• The rest of the weekend, FOC hosted “ghostly French Quarter tours”…making stops at the Cabildo & lovely courtyards to meet famous nola ghosts of the past (Governor O’Riley, Napoleon, William Faulkner, Pirate Jean Lafitte, Madame Josie Arlington of Storyville fame, Alice Heine, the real first Princess of Monoco, & Judah Touro, an important Jewish philanthropist).  I tagged along while a friend guided the tour this afternoon.  The tours were a great success!  Got some excellent photos of all our ghosts & then had a nice glass of wine & a nosh with all my tour guide gals at the Sylvain. 

So, I guess that catches y’all up.  Can you imagine if I’d attempted to write all that out in paragraph form?!  I’ve gotta go practice my bit on the Cabildo in the mirror now, work on getting myself to stop waving around my arms so much…that’s a rather ambitious goal.  And, of course, I must get my beauty sleep for the camera tomorrow.  Plus, it’s Halloween, so I’m schlepping my costume down to the quarter with me & meeting up with friends in the evening to check out the Halloween walking parades.  I see more good pictures in the near future.

Also, I can NOT wait until Thursday, another tour guide friend has created a great nola culinary tour for Tastebud Tours (based in Chicago, but opening a branch in nola).  He’s taking as many tour guides & other friends as he can on a test tour run.  And, he’ll be recommending other guides for this new tour…I’m at the top of the list, soooo want to do culinary tours!! 

And, I’ve been hearing from more & more people that there is an interest in a Historic Jewish tour of nola, & no one does one.  It’s time to corner the market, so I’m creating one…it’ll be posted on Tour-New-Orleans website as soon as it’s ready!!

I promise I won’t neglect y’all as I’ve done these past two months again.  I enjoy writing these blogs, probably more than most of you enjoy reading them.

blog withdrawal.

jazz tours. quarter tours. cemetery tours. festivals. market days. art nights. friends. food. wine. gorgeous weather. to-do lists. no sleep. history making history. the city I love.


a summary of what's on my mind since I still have no time to blog & it's been too long.  


so much more to share when I come up for air.

a Big & Easy kind of weather week

Wow, after tropical storm Lee swept through, it left behind some amazing weather!  Blue skies, temps under 80 degrees, super low humidity, cool nights…the sort of weather New Orleanians only dream about in September.  Of course, sadly, the temps are already rising & we know that this week was just a little taste or really more like a tease of what we hope to get more of at some point before December.  

As TS Lee was still passing through last week, I got up super early on Saturday morning to get a few errands done before the weather was forecast to get much worse that afternoon.  I drove down St. Charles Ave., & I noticed that the canopy of oak trees was swaying more than usual, but what really struck me were all the mardi gras beads on the streets!  It was actually windy enough that the beads had been shaken from the trees!  It felt like I was driving down St. Charles Ave. just after a mardi gras parade had rolled through uptown…something else New Orleanians don't generally experience in September.

But I digress, on to how I managed to make the most of the amazing weather we had this week...
I got up Tuesday morning & the news was reporting that the weather was gorgeous, then I got on facebook & every nola friend had posted the same thing.  So, I realized that I needed to get off my ass & outside on the double!  I called a friend & fortunately she was also free for the afternoon, so we quickly made a plan to head to city park.  We ventured over to the arboretum observation deck, or as the signs read, the "mountain".  It's the highest point in the city, well, since they got rid of monkey hill at audubon zoo.  It was wild, I mean seriously, we were in the wilderness!  I'd never been in that portion of the park before!  So, I'd say this outing definitely qualifies as an adventure.  We were accompanied by my friend's old & chubby little chihuahua, Trixie, the poor thing had some real difficulty climbing up that "mountain", so she had to be carried most of the way (lucky little bitch).  But, I did manage to climb up the hill all on my own, admittedly, the most outdoorsy I've been in a while.  Of course, we brought some libations, so we toasted on the observation deck with Abita strawberry.  However, with the sun beating down on us at that high altitude, that charming spot above the trees quickly became a perfect weather buzz kill. 

So, we decided to made our way over to the Peristyle to sit by a nice & quiet lagoon with the duckies.  We spread out the sheet I always keep in my trunk for just such occasions & pulled out a bottle of tempranillo (the wine I brought especially, although, if it weren't so hot, I probably would keep a bottle of wine on hand in my trunk, too).  We got a nice shady spot right on the edge of the water, there was a heavenly cool & breeze; it was complete euphoria, people.  UNTIL...we saw something absolutely shocking…there in the lagoon, casually swimming along behind the ducks, was a NUTRIA!!  WTF?!?!  I've only ever seen them in the old nature center & running along the canal on W. Esplanade in Metry, but NOT in city park!!  There were big ones & little ones slithering through the water.  I started snapping shots right away, so that I'd have proof of this nutria siting, but it was difficult to make them out while they were in the water.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spot one in the grass just a few yards away…I jumped to into action & zoomed that camera lens in as much as it would go!  I got one good shot of the furry pest looking right at the camera.  I swear we had a moment, but that moment was fleeting, the creepy critter swiftly turned toward the lagoon with is long tail whipping around behind him & I managed to get one shot as he began to waddle away.   I'm uploading them to facebook as I type.  I'm very proud to have documented this life changing event...if I didn't deserve it before, I think that I certainly earned that bottle of tempranillo after that!

Of course, we couldn't let city park be our last stop on this wonderful weather whirlwind of a day.  As soon as my friend's husband was home from work, we were headed over to Bayou St. John to watch the sunset…& yes, there were more Abitas, Restoration Ale this time (one of my personal faves).  It was the perfect way to end a fantabulous nola day.

And, now I'm really glad that I took advantage of the weather on Tuesday because I ended up being on the run the rest of the week.  But, every time I stepped in & out of the car, I still appreciated the absence of humidity smacking me in a face.

So, now we're all counting down the days until we actually make our way into Fall, but we know we've got some time to go.  We just have to be patient.  I'll keep the sweaters in the storage bins under my bed for now.  But, I think there may be more cardigans during the evenings, & I'll take what I can get.  

the Labor Day weekend weather curse

I can no longer remember a Labor Day weekend in nola when the weather was nice.  Katrina hit over Labor Day weekend (I remember I was planning on finally going to the Shrimp & Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, but the hurricane put a damper on things).  Then Gustave comes along a few years later, we were all having deja vu, it felt like Katrina all over again.  The storm's path was headed straight for us & gaining strength, due to make landfall over Labor Day weekend.  Fortunately, the city dodged the bullet on that one, but we all evacuated for over a week & I remember having a mini meltdown at the thought of dealing with another disaster like Katrina.  So, as I said in a previous blog, I just hold my breath until we make it past the anniversary of Katrina & then Labor Day weekend.  Not that I think we're totally in the clear, but the further we get into September, the smaller hurricane season gets in the rearview mirror, which is a big relief.

So, it's Labor Day weekend again, & now we're contending with tropical storm Lee…see, we can't escape the Labor Day weekend weather curse!!  Although, New Orleanians hardly blink an eye for tropical storms…been there, done that, yawn.  We're all happy to welcome some much needed rain…it's cooled off temps & given me a break from watering all my outdoor plants.  Plus, it's the perfect excuse to stay in my apartment all weekend chillin' in my sweatpants, catching up on laundry, emails, & crappy tv (as long as the power doesn't go out).  We did have a power outage for about 5 hours in my hood yesterday, that was a bit of an inconvenience, but just as it was beginning to get warm in my apartment, miraculously, the power & AC popped back on…praise the lord!!  All in all, I can't complain, TS Lee has been smooth sailing so far.  I was looking forward to a possible jaunt to Ship Island with friends on Tuesday, but looks like Lee will still be raining on that parade.  There's always next week, we know the temperatures ain't cooling down for a while, so we'll still have beach time.

Rewinding to last week, I finished up the training for the Ken Burns Jazz Event tours.  Unfortunately, I missed the final day for "Jazz & the Story of Survival Today", but I enjoyed "jazz in the quarter" on Thursday.  We walked to Preservation Hall from the Ritz that morning & were greeted with some sort of southern punch (sadly, non-alcoholic).  A staff member at preservation hall gave a brief, but very interesting talk about the history of the space & music club.  During the actual event, the talk will be followed by a live concert, but we skipped that part during the training.  On our way from preservation hall to the Cabildo, us FOC tour guides were finally able to show off our skills to the Tauck folks with a mini tour of our territory, the quarter!  Once in the Cabildo, we were met by Charles Chamberlain, a Louisiana State Museum curator for a guided tour through the museum.  Of course, us FOC tour guides know the Cabildo pretty well, this was more for the Taulk guide directors, but it's always handy to get a refresher course from the expert.  While in the Cabildo, the skies opened up & the first round of hard rain began to fall.  Of course, we all had to walk from the Cabildo to Court of Two Sisters for our jazz brunch & there was no escaping getting wet, but we didn't melt.  And, in true form, I was completely prepared with rain hat, umbrella, & mini towel to dry off in my bag.  Several tour guides laughed at how prepared I was, but I know they were really just overcome by jealousy as they shivered in the chilly restaurant.  We were supposed to enjoy our brunch in the courtyard, but obviously, that wasn't an option.  There was still live jazz & a huge buffet where we all stuffed ourselves until we could barely breathe, again, compliments of Tauck!  This tour is shorter than the "roots of jazz" tour, so the jazz brunch was our last stop.  I had to stick around downtown for a meeting later that afternoon, so I decided the best thing to do while it was still pouring was to head back to the ritz (since our cars were parked in the garage across the street) & get a drink at the bar w/one of my tour guide friends.  All in all, not a bad day in the quarter, finally had my first meal at Court of Two Sisters & learned a little something, too.  

What's on the agenda for the coming week, you might ask?  Well, first we have to get past TS Lee, which should be mostly done with nola after tomorrow.  Then, I'm hoping to make it to the Race exhibit at the U.S. Mint (another Louisiana State Museum site) with some of my tour guide crew.  I also have a FOC "super" events committee meeting on Wednesday morning so we can regroup after the training for the Ken Burns Jazz Event last week.  We have lots to do, & although a month seems like plenty of time, it'll fly right by & we wanna be on the ball for this event.  All of the tour guides will probably be getting together to watch some of the Ken Burns jazz documentary, among other relevant films, compiling research on tour topics, refining our tour routes & talking points, & making sure all tour guides are on the same page.  I'm excited to be part of the committee working to coordinate this event with Taulk and a tour guide for each of the 3 tours, it should be a challenging, but also a rewarding experience.  

Now, I must go put some laundry in the dryer.  Then back on the couch with the book I'm currently reading, It Happened in New Orleans, by Bonnye E. Stuart.  I'm working on collecting more anecdotes to add flavor to my tours.

from St. Louis #1 cemetery to Tulane's jazz archives in one day.

I am one pooped tour guide after a very long day of training for the "origins of jazz" tour that will be just one part of the Ken Burns Jazz Event in October.

We started bright & early hopping on the tour bus at the Ritz & headed to Basin St. Station.  There's a great model of how that area of town looked back in the day; Treme, Storyville, etc.  There's also a handy "gumbo" jazz exhibit.  But, of course, we only had a few minutes to enjoy the nice air conditioned building.  So, back out into the heat we go, crossing the street & making our way into St. Louis #1 cemetery...we're really going back to the origins of jazz.  This is a small cemetery, so the visit was brief.  Before I knew it, we were headed to the next destination, we hopped back on the tour bus (god forbid we walk a few blocks) & made our way to Congo Square in Armstrong Park.  Now this was pretty cool, a drummer greeted us from a local tribe & he talked about the history of congo square & jazz rhythms & beats.  Once we finished at congo square, back to the bus & on to the U.S. Mint to check out the jazz archives & old jail cells.  I saw Louis Armstrong's trumpet, up close & personal!!  Of course, yes, I took pictures...they'll be on my facebook page by the end of this week.  And, those old jail cells were way creepy; we walked into the cramped & corroded cells, while grasping for air, it was like a sauna in there!   After that shock to the system, it was time to bus it to the Lower Garden District for lunch at Commander's Palace.  I was amazed that we were getting treated to lunch at such a swanky place during our tour training.  I was already pinching myself about getting the free meal when I guide the tour!  After lunch, we walked off about 10 calories with a very short stroll around one block of the neighborhood before heading BACK to the bus again.  Finally, we made it to Tulane's Hogan jazz archives.   We saw some great old video footage & got a very informative lecture (which we also received as a typed document, so no note-taking needed!).  Although it was really interesting, it was just about 4pm & after schlepping in the heat & eating a massive meal, my eyes were beginning to feel heavy.  Good thing we'd made it to the end & just had to get back to the ritz to retrieve our cars & call it a day.

Us FOC folks have plenty of extra work to do; research, studying, extra trips to tour stops to prep for this tour.  We realized it's also probably a good idea to actually watch the Ken Burns Jazz documentary...but not ALL 10 discs, just the nola relevant ones...like disc 1, "Gumbo".  Fortunately, I am interested in all of this & I want to be able to give more jazz tours in the future.  So, it's all worth it...at least that's what us volunteer tour guides have to remind ourselves when ever the going gets tough.

Well, I am more than ready to pass out.  Another early day tomorrow, training for the "jazz in the quarter" tour.  I believe we'll be hitting preservation hall & we'll have a jazz brunch at Court of Two Sisters (I've never eaten there, so I'm thrilled)!  As I drift off, Louis will be singing me to sleep tonight.